Gold Master... soon?

[ncsmith4]

So I've heard that it takes about 3 weeks to go from Gold Master to store shelves. Which would mean Apple needs to have a Gold Master sooooooon, wouldnt it?

Does Apple usually make a statement when they have a Gold Master? When have they historically announced their OS "on sale" dates? Does Steve Jobs have a press conference and say "It's on sale... today!"? Or have they announced a date ahead of time and then released it?

And one final question... if I buy a Mac on the day Leopard comes out, I get a Leopard disc with my computer, right?

Thanks for the info.

 

[Not-a-cliche]

If you buy it new from the online Apple Store, it will have Leopard preinstalled because they build them when you order them instead of having warehouses of pre built computers.

If you buy it anywhere else, including an Apple Retail Store, it will have Tiger.